Page 59 of My Queendom for a Horse

“With the living areas, we can actually call the barn a residence. Or a business. Either one. It should make it a much more attractive prospect. Plus, you’d still have that other barn.” She points at the ramshackle old barn.

“It only has twelve stalls,” I say. And there’s no way all our grooms would be able to stay in the miserable apartment upstairs.

I guess we wouldn’t need them if we pared down to just twelve horses. In Latvia, you really need one stall per horse, because sometimes the weather is just awful.

“Here’s the thing.” I stop walking. “I grew up here, and for generations before me, Liepas have owned this land.” I get a little choked up just thinking about it. “I’m not talking about selling it lightly. I know it might be a process, to separate the house from the rest of the acreage. But the acreage is substantial, it’s close to the second largest city in Latvia, and it’s beautiful. I have no doubt someone will want it.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” Her half smile’s actually the friendliest thing I’ve seen from her. “But you need to know that it’s a lot of work for me, to set up the split process, to help shepherd it through. I’ll have to plead my case to the housing officials and the land committee. I won’t do it unless you’ll agree to the location I chose, and I really don’t want to do all that, working on commission, and then not sell the land. You seem unsure, and that makes me nervous.”

In that moment, I think about what I’m doing. I’d be making my dad sign off on splitting the property. Our ancestral land. And then I’d be putting the home and the old barn with nine acres or so of pastures in my name, and letting a stranger come in and buy the land all around us.

Liepašeta.

It breaks my heart.

But it’s the only way to keep it safe—and at least we’ll still have the house and the old barn. Plenty of people have just a handful of acres for their horses. So I have to pare things down a bit. Mirdza will be upset, because I won’t be able to keep letting her teach lessons to the local kids. I’ll have to adjust my future plans, but at least without a farm to keep offering as collateral, my dad won’t be able to keep putting my life in jeopardy.

“I’m not going to be wishy-washy. Let’s get it split. Transferred.” I sigh. “And sold.”

Her car’s pulling away when stupid freaking Obsidian Devil hops the fence and comes running over. He tosses his head her direction and then stares at me expectantly. Obviously he wants to know who she is.

“I’m selling the farm.” I sound more depressed than I meant to, but it’s not like he’ll care. “I can’t keep letting Dad gamble, and if he doesn’t own the farm anymore, he won’t have anything to offer. I need everyone he knows to hear that he’s broke.”

The huge black demon horse leans his head against my shoulder. It’s a gesture of comfort, and I take it, leaning right back against him. If a tear rolls down my cheek, well. I swipe it away immediately.

And then he stamps and paws the ground. It almost looks like he’s pushing rocks at me, but I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with it right now, so I ignore him.

“Your stupid horse is loose again,” John says, eying Obsidian anxiously and a little aggressively. “How does he keep getting out?”

I smirk. “You were worried about me clearing five feet, remember? He cleared a seven-foot fence to get here.”

John frowns. “No way. On his own? Without a rider encouraging him?”

I shrug. I don’t really care whether he believes it. “What’s up?”

“Are you selling up?”

“Yes.”

“Will I still have a job?”

“Unless even more debts come out? Yes. I plan to fix up the old barn and keep it and the house.”

He nods. “But just twelve stalls.”

I think about the configuration. “If we add a lean-to on the side, we could add two or three more. And we’ll have all the pastures on the east side.”

“Sounds painful. We’ll be down to, what? One groom?”

I sigh.

“You’re too good for a father like that,” John says. “I’ve stuck around for you, you know.”

“We’d have crumbled way back if you’d left.”

He chuckles. “You’d have figured something out. I know you’ve been floating my salary from your vet practice most months. But we finally have a winner.”

I grunt. He has no idea Obsidian can understand him, or he’d never compliment him like that.

---